A weekend skills boys basketball camp for high school juniors, unsigned seniors and junior college transfers will begin next Saturday.

The Recreational Innercity Sports Education camp, which will be held every Saturday from April 18 through May 9 at Selma University, will teach skill training, help student athletes create profiles for local colleges and also discuss life choices.

“This is area is very underdeveloped for exposure for the athletes,” said Anthony Roper, who is one of the organizers of the camp. “They get out of high school and have nothing to do or they go to a school and don’t know that process and end up coming and it contributes to the unemployment rate and everything else that goes on in this area. We just want to do our part.”

Roper and Jay Fortune, who serve as basketball coaches at Selma University, said the camp is not affiliated with the school in any way.

Roper said many colleges have committed to come out to the final day of the camp on May 9 and that’s he’s still inviting others.

“We’ve got a few commitments, especially from the local colleges,” Roper said. “We’ve got verbal commitments from a couple of other colleges but we are still in the process of trying to get about 10 more colleges to come down from each division. We are trying to invite anywhere between 10 and 20 colleges.”

The cost for the camp is $30 per player, but Roper said scholarships are available. He said right now 15 players have registered but he’s hoping to have at least 30.

Once the boys camp is completed, Roper said plans are in the works to hold a girls skills camp as well.

For more information on the camp, contact Roper at 917-200-3859 or Fortune at 334-327-3169.